


When My Eyes Grow Dim

by feathertail



Series: I will find you [1]
Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Can be read on its own, Death, Husbands, M/M, married, no happy ending, regency au, series fic, standalone fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8624044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feathertail/pseuds/feathertail
Summary: When my eyes grow dim, I will find you. Part of a series called "I will find you", of different reincarnations of Matteusz and Charlie. They can all be read as standalone fics.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LidijaMaximoff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LidijaMaximoff/gifts).



> For the Charlie to my Matteusz

Prince Charles of Rhodia had enemies. That much was obvious. Even more so now he had taken, not a wife, but a consort in marriage. Many of Rhodia's citizens, and indeed the peoples of other lands, thought the act disgusting, unworthy of a Prince, undignified, and more. But Charlie (he hated Charles) was content to ignore them. He and Matteusz, the love of his life, were blissfully happy. And that was all they needed.

Barely a month after their marriage was consummated, a war broke out, with both sides resorting to dastardly plots to try and win the upper hand and therefore force their victory. Many from both sides tried and failed, giving up their lands for their kingdom as they had sworn. However, one Quill spy managed to slip past the Rhodian gates, past the guards, and into the palace. She happened upon a careless servant, pausing mid-corridor to gossip on his way to refresh the Prince with a cool beverage. To that beverage she added some concoction from a vial and then disappeared, sliding back into the shadows from whence she came. Matteusz, by pure coincidence, witnessed this through the window across the small courtyard. His eyes widened and he sprinted after the wayward servant.

Skidding to a stop where he had last seen him, the Prince Consort cursed and looked around for any sign of his husband's unwitting executioner-to-be. He spun on his heel several times before darting off again, making use of the servant corridors and the spacious halls for royalty alike, ignoring any queries of "My Lord?" from the staff, and exclamations of "Matteusz!" from family, and the bewildered looks of everyone else as he raced past desperately. He took staircases three, four steps at a time, and would have been exhausted by the time he reached their rooms save for the adrenaline pumping through his veins, pressing him on, forcing him to keep going, his only thought of Charlie. When he finally skidded to a stop outside their doors, his heart made its presence known in his throat and his stomach dropped as he saw them propped open; only the presence of a servant could explain that, everyone else, including himself and Charlie, shut the door behind them on entering and leaving. He flung it wide, eyes darting around the room, finally fixing on Charlie, glass in hand, partway to his lips.  
"Matteusz?" came the confused question from his husband. He supposed he was quite a sight, jacket discarded along the way to make running easier, doublet unfastened, red-cheeked and panting. "What's wrong?" Matteusz didn't give an answer, nor did he want to risk his husband's life for one second more. In three quick strides he had scooped the glass from Charlie's hand and twisted away so he could not protest and grab it back. Even so, Charlie stood indignantly, grabbing at it. "Matteusz! Get your own!" he insisted, determined to get his drink. But Matteusz shook his head, glancing at the glass for a second before pulling it away from Charlie's grabbing hands and proceeding to gulp the drink down, the only way he could see in which he could immediately protect Charlie. He turned as he heard his husband's indignant cry, and wiped his mouth before lightly kissing his forehead.  
"Forgive me, Charlie," he murmured, tears welling in his eyes. "It was only way to keep you safe."  
Charlie looked up at him in confusion. "Matteusz, what is going on? Why are you behaving so strangely?"  
Matteusz only smiled painfully, forcing "Quill" and "poison" out before the pain wracking his system made his limbs give out, sending him crashing to the floor. Charlie was on his knees in a second, cradling his husband's head in his lap as the eyes he knew and loved so well fluttered around sporadically, froth beginning to dawn in the corners of Matteusz' lips. "Get help!" The Crown Prince screamed at the servant, frozen to the spot, stroking back Matteusz' hair gently and yet frantically.  
"Matteusz, stay with me," he pleaded. "Please, I can't lose you. I love you too much. Matteusz. I love you."  
A trembling hand rose and weakly caressed Charlie's cheek. "Forgive me," Matteusz whispered, froth bubbling, his breath harsh and rattling as his body shut down. "I love you."  
Charlie shook his head desperately. "No, no, Matteusz, please! Please!" His voice was high and frantic as he cradled his lover's breaking form. "I can't-" tears spilled down his cheeks in waterfalls of sorrow as Matteusz' fingers curled one last time around his jaw line before falling to the carpet, his husband's name the last word on his lips as he stilled and his beautiful eyes glazed over.

The Crown Prince's scream of anguish tore through the palace and reaches further into the kingdom, broadcasting his despair and utter wretchedness. He rocked back and forth, cradling Matteusz in his arms, refusing to let go even when the palace doctor came, when his mother tried to pry him away. Eventually it was only the Prince's old tutor who gently separated them, picking up the sobbing heir to the kingdom of Rhodia and carrying him out of the view of the trauma lying, plain as day, on their favoured rug. Eventually, exhausted, and encouraged by the strange lullaby his tutor sang, Charlie fell into nightmare-filled sleep, from which he would not escape for the rest of his life.

* * *

Many years later, the "Mute Prince", the "Black Prince", the "Silent Mourner", heir to the throne, shrouded entirely in black and silent since the day he buried his husband, stood on the balcony of what had been their shared room. His old tutor emerged from behind and clasped his shoulder gently and reassuringly.  
"You will find him again," he prophesied, staring into the star-filled sky as his silent Prince did. "Do not fear. You will be together again. I swear it." The Prince turned his face from the dark sky and examined the wise features of the man who had taught him. Tears, the never ending stream, flowed down his gaunt cheeks, mocking the hollows there as they passed, wretched eyes ever-wet with tears blinking once, twice, then returning to their stargazing, watching, waiting, hoping, for Matteusz.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt me for this series on tumblr - feathertailsilverstripe.tumblr.com


End file.
